While graduation ceremonies have increasingly become political platforms, a majority of young people continue to choose the same careers as their elders, observed Tristan Dupas-Amory, a research associate at École supérieure de commerce de Paris (a business school), where he is writing a thesis on the careers of young graduates.
Despite the 'calls to quit' at elite universities, you point out that most young people leaving these establishments opt for traditional careers. What is the true extent of this phenomenon?
I am surprised by the extent to which calls for defection at graduation ceremonies are given so much weight. There are a few – albeit admirable – successes, but how many young people have really changed their trajectory after such appeals? As far back as June 2016 at HEC (École des hautes études commercials, a top-ranked business school), Emmanuel Faber, then CEO of Danone, entreated future graduates to "make the world a better place." The new direction taken by a handful of students at graduation ceremonies should not obscure a much larger phenomenon. Rather than dramatically reorientating themselves, a larger number of students continue to choose the same careers as their elders. This is what I call the great retention. For instance, more than a third of 2021 graduates of France's elite universities have gone into consulting or financial services, according to the latest employment survey by the Conférence des grandes écoles (an association of elite universities). Although more discreet, more conventional and, perhaps, less enthusiastically taken, these choices nonetheless deserve our full attention – not to stigmatize them, but to understand what leads young people toward a rather narrow spectrum of professional options.
Their perspectives are also the same ones they encountered while at school.
When students arrive at an elite university, they are not fully aware of the range of careers available to them. They mostly follow the paths taken by the classes that preceded them, thereby swelling the ranks of the professions historically most represented at these institutions. Also, they are encouraged to take up careers considered worthy of their degrees. One example is the consulting field, which continues to attract a lot of young graduates because it is selective and highly reputable.
What do these "calls to quit" say about the perspective on work held by this group of young people?
They are helping to get the word out and are pushing elite universities to take action, particularly around integrating into the curricula certain issues related to the environmental transition. Finally, the great resignation and the great retention are both just two sides of the same coin concerning the new generation's attitude toward work. Young people are looking for meaning; in class, they ask many questions about the significance and impact of their actions. We must help them in trying to reconcile their commitment with their future profession, without necessarily prompting a dramatic life change. A large number of students do not imagine themselves embarking on a dramatic departure from the status quo: They do not see themselves exchanging a future as an executive for that of a craftsman, or a life in the city for one in the countryside. They could, though, choose a softer transformation. For example, they might move from consulting for industry to consulting on the environmental transition or from working at traditional banks to working for companies in green finance.